Views from the Valley

John 20:19-31

         When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

        But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

        A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

        Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. but these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

I received an email this past week from a cousin who lives in Selah, Washington, close to Yakima. She occasionally attends a church in Yakima, and received a letter from them which she shared with me. This particular church has a socially progressive outlook, advocating for groups of people who are targeted by discrimination. Because the church is located in the midst of a population of many people who hold a different perspective, church leaders have received threatening messages. The church officials were considering the possibility of hiring security for their worship services. Then an incident happened to reinforce that sense of caution. I’ll read what actually happened as it was described in the letter.

       “Security concerns became urgent when last Sunday an unidentified individual entered the building near the end of ECC’s Easter Service, went downstairs, and navigated to a back set of stairs to enter the stage and approach Rev. Love. He identified himself as a “Kingdom Warrior” and said he had been studying her and believed she was deceiving people. Rev. Love quietly offered to speak with him after concluding the service. After the congregation left, he seemed more agitated when one of the leaders came next to Rev. Love. He refused to give his name but asked for some of the Easter candy. He finally said he had to leave but would be writing about this place to warn people. He walked away and off the grounds. Most of the congregation was unaware that this was happening.”

       As a result, the church decided to hire an unarmed security guard on Sunday morning, and added protection features to the building, door locks, and security precautions on Sundays.

       Most of you know that several minutes after our service here has begun, our doors are locked. It’s a frightening world to live in. I find it so disconcerting that the times call for this, and I’ll bet I’m not alone when I say that I wish it didn’t have to happen, though I understand why it must be so. How wonderful it would be to attend church with open doors and not a single fear of anyone entering the church with harmful intentions!

       We come to our scripture text in which we find the disciples locked “behind closed doors.” It’s worth considering how the fears that led the disciples to hunker down behind locked doors might be similar to modern-day American congregations.

       We start by considering why the disciples were afraid. It was because of the religious authorities, and of their affiliation with Jesus, and what those authorities had done to Jesus. Who wouldn’t be terrified? Even though Jesus had reappeared, and they believed him to once again be alive, the authorities were still around, and who knows what they might still have in mind?

       As for the people in Yakima, very real events and threats had been made as well. Just like the religious authorities’ opposition to the words and actions and claims of Jesus that led to his crucifixion, so were people opposed to the ways in which the Yakima church was doing its ministry on behalf of marginalized people. They were doing Jesus’ work. The irony was that the man who entered the church in a threatening manner also believed the same thing: that he was doing Jesus’ work. Could we classify him in a category with the religious authorities of Jesus’ day?

       For us in this church, it’s the stories of people entering churches with the intent to kill that have hit close to home. In these cases, too, the reasons for the attacks might be similar to what was feared in Yakima: the anger of people who felt threatened by and strongly opposed the message and ministry of that particular house of worship.

       One difference between our day and Jesus’ time, however, is that in Jesus’ case, well-known religious authorities sanctioned Jesus’ crucifixion. Generally for us, this isn’t the case, though it’s clear that the people making the threats and committing the violence nowadays are taking authority upon themselves in the same way the chief priests and their cohorts did in respect to Jesus.

       But we might ask this question when we look at these situations: what kind of threat was the church in Yakima to the public and the welfare of this “Kingdom Warrior?” What harm did they present to anyone in their world, except to offer assistance and acceptance to people that the public did not want to accept?

       And we might ask this same question of Jesus. What kind of threat was he to the religious authorities of his day? What kind of harm was he doing by proclaiming God’s love and salvation for all? How was he hurting anyone while preaching forgiveness? What was problematic in his cleansing, healing and inclusion of people the church had proclaimed to be unclean, unforgivable, unacceptable? The threat to them was his proclamation that the precious laws to which they adhered so tenaciously were overridden by the law of love: the love of God and one’s neighbor as oneself, no exceptions.

       That was what led him to the cross. Jesus dared to do God’s work in the world, acknowledging that God was present with and in him, in order to bring humanity a better, newer, freer and more loving way to live. How dare he?

       And how dare people in the church today continue to worship and celebrate and proclaim this same Jesus? How dare they, too, seek to reach out to people of all kinds, welcoming the stranger, healing the sick, teaching forgiveness and love? I guess doing God’s work is risky business.

       Let’s switch gears and take a look at Thomas in our gospel lesson for a bit. Thomas wanted to be reassured of Jesus’ actual resurrection. He wanted proof that Jesus had been crucified and had risen. In reply, Jesus told Thomas to touch, and look, and said, “Do not doubt but believe.” And again, Jesus mentions “belief” for Peter as an affirmation that comes as a result of seeing, and adds what a blessing it is for those who believe without seeing.

       The Greek word for “believe” has layered meaning. This word is pist: spelled p-i-s-t. It can also be translated to mean “trust”. Let me substitute the word “trust” for the word “belief,” and read Jesus’ words again. Listen to how it sounds: “Do not doubt but trust.” “Have you trusted because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to trust.” At the end of the passage, John also says, “…these [signs] are written so that you may continue to trust that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through trusting you may have life in his name.”

       Does this second reading feel different to you? It certainly does to me. Substituting trust for believe strikes me in a helpful way. There are, to be honest, days when I wonder about the veracity of the Biblical story. There are so many things in it that seem so impossible, impractical, outrageous – and as a pastor and a Christian I find that instead of running away from my uncertainty, I have tried to face it all head-on. I confess it to God; after all, God already knows what I’m thinking! I’m sure I’m not alone when I think of how nice it would be to have him walk into this room and tell me, “Yes, I lived, taught, loved, died, and rose again. Here I am. Look at these hands, these feet, and this gouge in my side. Everything you know is true.” But even then, would I I find a reason to doubt?

       Then I think of the word “trust.” When I approach my faith from that perspective, there is a softening. I trust that these things happened, and I trust what they mean. That God loved you, and me, so much that God sent Jesus to die and make it abundantly clear, through the meaning of his death and resurrection, that God loves us.

       Belief involves an intellectual knowing. An assent of the mind. It can require physical proof; scientific reasoning. Trust involves a sense of relationship. An awareness, a feeling, an experience that is repeated, affirmable, and verifiable again and again throughout life. This trust is what I live and move and walk in every day. If I try to prove it somehow, and really zoom in on the details of what, where, when, why and how, I get stuck. Not that reasoning is bad; it’s also a blessing and gift from God. But what is most convincing to me is that sense of relationship.

       God has verified God’s presence and love in my life so many more times than I can ever count, through the relationship I have with God, in my prayers, study and thinking. God has verified God’s presence and love in this world countless times through other people. This church. My family. My friends. Strangers on the street. People who do wonderful things for others and make this world a better place. God reinforces my trust through words I read, ways in which I’m touched by nature, and the marvel of the world all around me.

       Trust is where it counts – beyond belief.

       Now let’s come back to where we started: in the room, behind closed doors, where fear abounded for the disciples, and is still present for churches all over the world and right here in Davenport. Don’t forget that locked doors didn’t keep Jesus out of the room where the disciples hunkered down. Just because there are frightening things out there doesn’t mean that we lock ourselves up and roll ourselves into a little ball of protection like a roly-poly bug. And, well, if we do lock our doors, we know that Jesus still manages to find a way in.

       Trust means relationship. Trust means we believe God is with us even, and especially, when we don’t feel safe. Trust remembers that Jesus and his disciples didn’t stay in that locked room. What happened after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension? They went out and proclaimed the message of Jesus for decades afterward, out in public, in rooms all over the area, where people gathered and prayed and experienced the magnificent power of the Holy Spirit. They opened up, spread out, and began to MOVE, because of their trust; because of their relationship with the risen Christ and with the Holy Spirit he breathed upon them to give them power to do what they went out and did.

       So we, too, may lock our doors. But at the same time we unlock our hearts and our hands in this community in trust, to proclaim the message of love we treasure. We care for others, accept, welcome them, acknowledging that sometimes being a bold Christian means quite a bit of risk, whether our doors are locked or wide open.

       May we know, here in this moment, that Jesus has entered our sequestered room, our sanctuary, and is with us now, living in a dynamic relationship that binds us all together as God’s people. He’s offering us peace, just as he did his disciples, every moment. Let us be willing to assume the risks involved in proclaiming our faith. Let us be living examples of that trust. Amen.